Karen Erichsdatter

Biography

Karen Erickson Nielsen Mickelsen was born on October 22, 1815 in Westgaard, Hjorring, Denmark to parents Erick and Christense Nielsen. At 18 years old, Karen  began service as a servant at the residence of Niels Andersen. Meanwhile, she met and fell in love with Niels Christian Nielsen, with whom she had her first two children, Christense (1839) and Berthel (1841) whilst unmarried and living with her father. The two eventually married in 1842 and proceeded to have seven more children together. In 1851, missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to preach to the people in Denmark, and Karen and Niels were baptized in January 1852 by Christian Christiansen. Because the family did not have enough funds to make the journey all together, they initially saved for and sent Christense and Berthel to Utah in December of 1853 with their friends. Two years late in 1855, the rest of the family journeyed to Utah. The family traveled first to Copenhagen, and from there to Liverpool. They intended to sail on the ship “John J. Boyd” however, got sick and thus postponed their journey. Karen’s daughter, Ane Marie, died of measles during their stay in Liverpool. In February of 1856, they left for New York on the ship “Caravan”, arriving in the United States on March 27th. They proceeded to St. Louis so Niels could work and earn enough money for the remainder of the journey. Unfortunately, Niels died of cholera in St. Louis in April of 1857. Karen continued the journey with her children by heading to Florence, Nebraska, and from there crossing the plains to Salt Lake City with the Christian Christiansen hand cart company and finishing the journey in September of that year. During the journey, she became friends with Jens Mikkelsen, whose sickly wife died in Echo Canyon, UT. Karen and Jens married soon after they arrived in Salt Lake. Karen discovered that Christense and Berthel (who they had sent on earlier) had settled in Fillmore, so the family traveled there to see her children. The family eventually settled in Spanish Fork, specifically, Lake Shore, and set up a fishing industry. The women of the family would make the nets while the men fished. Jens later took a second wife, which caused some marital discord. Upon his death in 1884, Karen had a stroke leaving her bedfast for the remainder of her life. She died at her daughter Ane Cathrine’s home on August 7, 1888. Information gathered from various records of Karen's life and Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude.